Welcome, hearty viewers,
to this week’s edition of
Good People, Good Works,
featuring Zimbabwean
musician and master
mbira player,
Cosmas Magaya,
who is also
the Project Director of
the Nhimbe for Progress
program which seeks
to enhance community
welfare in six villages
in Zimbabwe’s
Mhondoro region.

“Nhimbe” means
people working together
with a common goal,
emphasizing the direction
they want to go.
And this is why
we named the project
Nhimbe for Progress.

The overall goal of Nhimbe
is to uplift the people
in Zimbabwe,
and really recognize
our spiritual relatedness,
and how we have something
to offer each other.
Some things they’re lacking.
Some things we’re lacking.
And through this
co-creative experience,
there's an exchange
going on, and it's
a very powerful exchange.

Nhimbe for Progress is
a project of Ancient Ways,
a US-based non-profit
organization founded by
Jaiaen Beck in 1994
to preserve
indigenous cultures,
with emphasis
on promoting the music
of Zimbabwe’s
Shona people
and improving the lives
of the Shona
in rural Zimbabwe by
providing health services,
schools, and
infrastructure such as
housing and toilets.

Since 2001, up to now,
they have constructed
about 38 huts,
which is a very good job
done by Nhimbe.

Nhimbe in the three years
has built
the community center,
the preschool, and
has built up a library.

The Nhimbe for Progress
project serves
approximately 400 families
or 1,350 people.
The noble endeavor
started as a result of
Ms. Beck and Mr. Magaya
meeting while he was
in the United States
for six months as part
of a cultural exchange
in 1998 and then again
the next year when
he was touring the country.

I visited the United States
with the mbira group,
in 1999.
So Jaiaen (Beck)
came to visit
when we were performing
at University of Oregon.
Then she met with
all the mbira players
as well as myself.

Then we had a chance
again to talk about
the suffering of my people.
And that is
when we agreed to start
Nhimbe for Progress.

Nhimbe for Progress
has opened a health center
that offers free medical
care to the residents
of the local villages.

Juliana (Mikombegumi)
has had training as
a village health worker.
So there’re some things
that we’ve brought her,
so that she can help you
when you have
minor ailments
that don't require a doctor.
There’s a problem
from parasites that
come from standing water,
and Juliana knows
how to test for this.
And we brought
the medicine.
We have the medicine
to treat it.

The biggest health problem
I see is diarrhea because
we have not enough toilets.

For people
to live a healthy life,
they really need
to have some toilets.
They really need
to drink safe water.

We came up
with the health center.
And this health center
has really helped
alleviate a lot of suffering.
So we really
help the people by
creating this health center.

Also at this health center,
we teach people
the hygienic standards,
because teaching them
the best practices in life
helps reduce the chances
of people getting sick
and going to hospitals.

During the rainy season,
when it’s raining, people,
they use bush toilets.
So that is swept
into the drinking water
which they drink,
which is not protected.
But if we have protected
water, like wells, then
definitely we reduce that.
A fewer number of people
will be affected by diseases,
and as a result we are
eliminating expenses
on buying medicines.

How has Ancient Ways
helped in improving
the water availability
and quality?

They've helped
by sponsoring some wells.

How many wells?

So far I would say,
we’ve managed
around 20 to 50.
We have helped quite
a number of families.
So, when they have a well,
then they can also have
a home garden.
Then, they can water it
and grow vegetables.

Like if you have water,
you have a garden,
you have a livelihood.

That’s right. Water is life.

Nhimbe for Progress
has also established
a preschool
that serves 80 students.

Nhimbe for Progress
preschool is different
from the other preschools
because the education,
it's far much better,
and it provides food
for the children.

We have introduced
a preschool,
or we call it a crèche.
There used not to be
any crèche nearby,
so we introduced that.
And our preschool,
we also feed
these young minds.
And they stay healthy,
and they are taught
how to live nicely.
They are also taught to
water their own garden.
We give them little bottles,
and there’s a well,
and, they are supervised
by their teachers.

It will help them
do something.
At least then they know,
from the early age,
that food is grown.
We have a garden where
they grow vegetables,
mangoes, guavas, (we have)
all sorts of fruit trees.
So the kids
can also utilize that.
Besides that we also buy
some really good food,
beans, nutritious stuff
to feed them.

This is the Nhimbe
preschool, the only one,
the best of all,
the one I love.
This is the Nhimbe
preschool, the only one,
the best of all,
the one I love.
This is the Nhimbe
preschool, the only one,
the best of all,
the one I love.

We asked Mr. Magaya
to share some stories
of children
Nhimbe for Progress
has assisted over the years.

Yes, I have some good
stories, exciting stories.
Sometimes in cultures,
and in our culture,
in Africa in particular,
a girl is not favored
to be sent to school,
because the thinking was,
“Once she’s
grown up enough,
she gets married."
But the boy, send him
to school wherever.
So, in Nhimbe we managed
to have some girls
who are going to school.

For example,
Jane Champati
has been sponsored
by Nhimbe
through Ancient Ways
to university level.
And a year ago,
she was in some
exchange program
in Germany, and
right now she’s working
on her master’s degree.
So this is really
a great achievement,
a great story.
Because as a parent who
also has got four kids,
three of them are girls,
I really like to see girls
being helped to
achieve their goals in life.

So the second story
is about a young boy
who is now a man,
who was also helped
by Nhimbe
to go to university
and did his law degree.
He is now working as
a lawyer for human rights
in Zimbabwe.
We thank Ancient Ways
for working so hard,
continuously assisting us
to be able to achieve
these good things.

For all the people
whose lives
have been transformed,
Nhimbe for Progress
has a special place
in their hearts.

Nhimbe for Progress
has given us
a very big change,
in such a way that it has
chosen those children
who are capable in class,
but they’re financially
disadvantaged.
In that case,
we see those children
progressing very, very well,
and it’s helping.

I would like to say,
thank you, Nhimbe.
Keep on helping us.

I feel very free
and relaxed and all
this is because of Nhimbe.
I feel like dancing.

What would you like to
accomplish in the future
through Ancient Ways
for your community,
for your people?

I really would want to see
more people in Zimbabwe,
and more people
within my community
utilize their land well.
And, as a result, be able
to produce enough food
which can keep them going,
and so that they don’t
continue depending on
Nhimbe.
So my goal is get a tractor
which can really
till the land for people,
so they are able to
grow enough food.

Before we close
our program,
Mr. Magaya will show us
the workings of the mbira,
the sacred instrument
of the Shona people.

I will take my instrument
out of my resonator
so that people can see.
This is the mbira.
And the mbira
has got 22 keys.
But you may find mbiras
with more than 22 keys.
Those are extra keys.
And the keys
lay on the bridge
and you see the crossbar
keeps the keys intact
with the sound board.

You see,
there’s a hole on the right,
that’s where we insert
our little finger in order to
control the mbira
when we are playing it.
And also you see
there’s this, little thing,
that resembles rattles
or shakers.
Because when we play,
they vibrate.
We need the vibration.

We are touched by your
works, Cosmas Magaya,
Jaiaen Beck, and all the
staff and volunteers of
the Nhimbe for Progress
program and Ancient Ways.
With blessings from God,
may Ancient Ways
and Nhimbe for Progress
continue to successfully
create a better life
for disadvantaged people
in Zimbabwe in the future.

For more details
on Nhimbe for Progress
and Ancient Ways,
please visit
www.Ancient-Ways.org

Elevated viewers,
we have enjoyed
your company
on this edition of
Good People, Good Works.
May the joy of sharing
be known by all.